Legend of Zelda: The Shadow Storm
by RonnyBravo
Summary: The people of Hyrule, after the Great Flood, now live peacefully with Pokemon in their land. But evil never rests and it is rising again, this time with an army of Shadow Pokemon. Now it's up to a young boy named Link and his partner, Verdant the Eevee, to save the day! AU Wind Waker. I do not own Legend of Zelda or Pokemon.
1. New Friend

Chapter 1: New Friend

The sun had not yet begun to rise in the east over the Great Sea when a sound pierced the air above the island known as Kazmere. It was a humble little place in the southeast corner of the Great Sea, a place not usually seeing strange happenings such as this. But on this very early morning, the cry pierced the air above them. It was an earsplitting sound obviously coming from some sort of large bird; perhaps even one of those creatures that had appeared in Hyrule nearly a hundred years ago. Whatever it was, it shot over the island and towards the southwestern sea, leaving only the sound of its cry to echo into the canyon that separated Kazmere in two.

There was however someone up early on this morning. That someone was a very special boy, the only one on the island that knew any sort of swordplay at the time even though he was only twelve. He happened to be practicing his technique with the sword in the forest at the island's forest at the northwest toe of the island when the beast flew overhead. The shriek of the creature was intense, so much that the boy had to drop his sword to cover his ears. But after the beast had gone its way, the boy looked out to where it had gone.

"What was that?" he asked himself as he uncovered his ears. He assumed that it was just one of the creatures the people of the Great Sea called "Pokémon" even though its shadow in the moon seemed much too large. He shook off the incident and picked up his sword again but he heard a small whimper from the nearby bushes.

"Who's there?" he asked in the direction of the sound. When nothing came out of the bushes he slowly walked over, his sword in hand and prepared to swing if anything jumped at him. A blur suddenly jumped out and tackled him to the ground, knocking his sword out of his hand. When he opened his eyes again, he saw a brown furry creature curled up on his chest frightened. It seemed to be a Pokémon. He sat up and put the Pokémon in his lap. It looked up at him with frightened brown eyes.

"I won't hurt you," he said as he patted it on the head, "Were you spooked by that strange cry?" The Pokémon nodded. It rubbed against his chest as if feeling the warmth of his tunic on this cold morning. As the Pokémon drifted off to sleep, he went over the many things he had learned from the Kazmere elder about these strange creatures in his mind. He first remembered that this particular one was called Eevee. Then he remembered about all of the different types of Pokémon there were according to the elder; Eevee was of the Normal category. He had learned much about the strange creatures known as Pokémon from the elder. Not many of them lived on the island and most of the ones that did belonged to villagers. He rubbed the fur on the Eevee's head.

"You're a nice little fella," he told it softly. He looked back towards the west where that creature had flown. If it was a Pokémon, it certainly wasn't like Eevee.

The sun began to rise over the eastern side of the island. The mountain that took up most of the west side of the island, called Crimson Peak, reflected the sunlight to make a crimson shade that shrouded the island. This was his favorite part of the day and he came out here every night to train and then watch the sunrise in the morning and finally go back home to sleep. He was practically nocturnal and because of it had no friends. He picked up his sword from off of the ground nearby and sheathed it and he felt Eevee begin to wake up from its short nap.

"Good morning Eevee," he said. Eevee smiled and nuzzled him again.

"Do you want to go home with me?" he asked. Eevee nodded and he stood up.

"Alright then," he said, "My name is Link." He picked Eevee up in his arms.

"Now let's go home," said Link. And with that he began walking down the path that would take him back to the village.

When he arrived back at his home, he noticed that most people were outside, still in their pajamas.

"That thing must have woken them up," Link thought to himself. Nobody seemed to notice him as he walked through the village. Usually, he could walk through the village like this, as if he were invisible. On occasion however, somebody would try to strike up a conversation with him. He found this quite annoying unless he was talking to the elder of the village, whom he deeply respected despite his few… quirks. And it just so happened that the elder walked right up to him, his Kadabra at his side.

"Good morning to you Link!" he said cheerfully, "How was your training last night? I see you've got a little friend here."

"It was fine thank you sir," he said politely. This was the one thing he did not like about the island's elder; he talked… a lot.

"What is this little feller now?" he asked as he reached out to feel Eevee's fur, hitting Link's face instead.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry my boy," he said in apology, "These eyes of mine aren't getting any better you know. Kadabra, will you please help me?" Kadabra grunted and put its hand on the elder's forehead and put the other hand on Eevee's, who seemed rather confused. Then Kadabra retreated from the elder and Eevee and stood behind the elder.

"Ah, an Eevee!" the elder said in surprise, "Those are a rare sight! I remember that you were always interested in how they could evolve into seven different Pokémon!"

"Your memory is a little off," said Link, "I believe you're talking about Mr…"

"Baleton!" he shouted out.

"No, I was going to say Mr. Bilton," said Link.

"Ah yes, that old cag," said the elder. Mr. Bilton was the hermit who lived on the other side of Crimson Peak doing crazy research on Pokémon species, types, and other things. He had learned from the elder himself about Pokémon just like Link. He had gone sort of… crazy after he tried to tell everyone that he met a Pokémon that didn't exist before and nobody had believed him. And if he was old then the elder was ancient.

"Well then, since you were up all night, why don't you tell us a bit about that Pokémon that flew over the island last night?" asked the elder.

"I know nothing," Link said in annoyance, "I must be getting home to bed."

"Oh yes, you go and do that," said the elder, "You kids need your sleep! Good night Link! Err… morning!" Link just rolled his eyes and walked away.

Link put one of his pillows on the ground for Eevee to sleep on when he got home. Due to the fact that he knew how to use a sword, he was allowed to live alone after his parents had died in a tsunami that hit the island when he was only two. But now he had Eevee with him so he didn't have to be alone.

"Good night Eevee…" he said as he began to drift off to sleep. He heard small snoring sounds below him and smiled. He shut his eyes but just as he was about to enter the first phase of sleep, a huge roar came from above him. His eyes shot open and his heart rate increased. Eevee had shot awake and jumped onto his bed in fear. The roar sounded exactly like the cry from earlier that morning. He grabbed his sword and sheath from off of the wall nearby and jumped out of bed. Eevee flew from the bed and landed on its feet. He dashed out the door of the house and looked up in the sky and Eevee did likewise. Above them was an enormous bird with cobalt feathers and red eyes. It had a crest that was solid indigo and its claws were blood red. People were screaming everywhere as it glared down on Kazmere as though it would devour the entire island. It let out its loud roar again and the two friends covered their ears as hard as they could. When it stopped, Link drew his sword and looked straight up at the beast.

"What are you!" he yelled as loud as he could, "What do you want with us!" The bird didn't answer and suddenly spit out an enormous ball of purple fire. When it made impact, the ground exploded. Link quickly sheathed his sword and picked Eevee up and ran for his life. The bird had just burned a hole in the island's center and the grass was still smoldering. Link saw it charging another ball of fire in its mouth. This time it was aiming directly at the village. The fireball was fired straight down at them and Link held onto Eevee tightly and braced himself, but nothing made impact with them, or the village for that matter. Link finally got up the courage to look around him and saw an enormous yellow barrier surrounding the village entirely. The fireball had hit it and dwindled out though Link could feel its effects still lingering. He was sweating from the heat of the fireball hitting whatever force field had popped up out of nowhere.

"Link!" the elder called to him, "I thought you were in bed!"

"It's kind of hard to sleep when you've got a monstrous bird trying to blow your village to smithereens," Link replied. Eevee whimpered in agreement.

"Well, we don't really have to worry about it," said the elder, "My Kadabra's got its Light Screen up. Nothing will be getting through this thing!" He spoke too soon. On the bird's fifth try, the Light Screen shattered and it roared in triumph.

"Crap!" Link yelled. Eevee jumped out of his arms and glared up at the bird just as Link was doing, but the bird suddenly flung another fireball at the village.

"Got any ideas?" Link asked with little hope as he picked up Eevee again.

"Yes, I've got one," said the elder.

"You do?" asked Link.

"RUN!" he cried. Link didn't even hesitate and ran as fast as he could to get behind a boulder wedged between two rocks before the fireball hit and exploded.

Link held onto Eevee tightly and was afraid to look at what damage the fireball might have caused. He had heard that massive explosion and it still rang in his ears. The boulder, as he had expected, had not shifted an inch from its spot wedged between two rocks. Link turned and gasped. The village was gone, and nearly the whole east side of the island with it. There was nothing but water on the other side of his hiding place. The bird was gone, probably out west again. But Link's home was destroyed.

Link sat in silence for a few minutes until Eevee jumped out of his arms and began sniffing at the ground. It turned towards the backside of Crimson Peak and seemed to look out at a house on the beach there. Link recognized it as Mr. Bilton's house. He wondered why Eevee was looking towards it until he realized that Eevee had begun walking towards the water filled crater. He suddenly saw Eevee's target; it was the elder's Kadabra. And it was still breathing. Link ran over to where Kadabra was and checked its pulse.

"It's… alive," he said in disbelief. He shook it for a few seconds until it began to stir. Link and Eevee looked at it with worried eyes as its eyes began to open. Seconds later, Kadabra sat up straight and cringed. Link urged it to lie down.

"You need to rest!" said Link, "You're hurt badly from that attack!" Kadabra nodded and fell back into the water that it had been lying in. Link dragged it onshore and checked its injuries. It had major burns on its back so Link put it back in the water lying on its back. Other than that, it was fine.

"Well, at least we know someone besides us survived," said Link. Eevee yipped in agreement. Link's smile turned into a frown.

"But we don't know anything about medicine that might heal Kadabra," he said solemnly. Eevee's face fell, reflecting its friend's mood. He turned towards Mr. Bilton's cabin on the beach behind Crimson Peak.

"But I think we know someone who does," he said confidently.


	2. Climbing Crimson Peak

Chapter 2: Climbing Crimson Peak

Link, Eevee, and Kadabra had begun the journey to Mr. Bilton's house on the west side of the island as soon as Kadabra was in condition to walk. Still, it needed Link's support to get over the mountain that lay in between them. From what Link had learned, the mountain was nearly five thousand feet tall, not nearly as large as some mountains discovered through history, but still large, and was said to be a volcano that created Kazmere. Link and the two Pokémon gaped at the mountain that loomed above them. It would certainly take a while to climb.

"Well you two, let's climb this mountain shall we?" said Link. Eevee yipped in agreement and Kadabra slowly nodded its head. Link stepped onto the path that led up the mountain and took a few steps to make sure it was safe to climb. His footing was stable and he motioned for Eevee to come up. He helped Kadabra as they walked up the path and soon found themselves at a dead end on the cliff where there was a cave.

"I… guess we go inside," said Link. He walked Kadabra inside with Eevee right by his side, but it was pitch black inside. Link heard Eevee whimpering below him. Kadabra seemed to realize the situation and shut its eyes. Then it opened them again quickly and light suddenly flashed through the cavern. Link's eyes had to adjust before he could see that they were in a small clearing in the cavern. Stalactites and stalagmites were everywhere. There was an exit on a ledge about ten feet above them.

"That must be the way out," said Link. Eevee began sniffing around the area to look for a way to get up there. It found something behind a boulder. Link and Kadabra walked over and Link saw that there were small holds that he could grip to get up to the next ledge behind the boulder. He pushed the boulder out of the way and then took a moment to catch his breath before pushing Eevee up to the next ledge and then climbing up himself. He grabbed Kadabra's hand and pulled the Pokémon up.

On the level they were on now, there was a cave right behind them and a high ledge that they wouldn't be able to reach. But if they could reach it, that would give them the ability to reach the ledge with an exit on it.

"How do we get up there?" Link questioned. Eevee once again began sniffing, this time around the cavern entrance that they had been facing when they climbed up. It caught the scent of something and dashed into the cavern. Link helped Kadabra into the next cavern quickly, trying to keep up with Eevee, when suddenly, they heard Eevee's cry ring through the corridor.

"Uh-oh," he said to himself. Kadabra again seemed to understand the situation and went faster for Link. They reached the next cavern to find Eevee being harassed by a group of both Keese and Zubat.

"Eevee, use Quick Attack!" Link yelled. Eevee rallied to Link's cry and smacked into each bat one by one. Link let go of Kadabra and drew his sword, slashing at the Keese and knocking them into the wall. Eevee took care of the Zubat with a few more Quick Attacks. Link breathed hard as the short battle drew to a close.

"That was close," he said aloud. He quickly got back to Kadabra who had sat down to rest while they had fought off the bats. Kadabra got up by itself, but it was still limping. Link steadied the Pokémon and noticed something hanging from the ceiling. It looked like a vine and was hanging from one of the stalactites. He pulled it down and realized that it was noosed like a lasso at the end.

"What is this thing?" he asked. He got an idea. He quickly motioned for Eevee to follow him and helped Kadabra back into the previous cavern. Then he faced the outcropped ledge and swung the vine around his head, then threw it at the ledge. It tightened around the ledge and Link picked up Eevee and put it on his head. Then he held onto Kadabra tightly, made sure the vine was tight, and swung across the gap over to the ledge above. He managed to grab his foot on a hold on the rock wall and began climbing using the vine for support he eventually reached the top where Eevee jumped off and waited for him and Kadabra to get up to the ledge. They reached the ledge and took a moment to catch their breath before grabbing the vine lasso and moving on out of the cavern.

When they stepped into daylight, they were on the other side of the mountain and overlooking the west side of the island. They weren't very high up so they wouldn't have to go down very far. He gestured for Eevee to stay with him and they began to descend the mountain.

Just as they were reaching the mountain's foot, Link heard a scream. Eevee panicked and jumped up onto Link's head, causing Link to lose vision and trip over a rock. Kadabra managed to stay up. Out of nowhere, a man burst out of the cottage on the beach nearby. His hair was on fire and he was running for the ocean. Link stood up and watched in surprise as the man jumped into the ocean to cool his head off, then pulled himself out and returned to the cottage.

"That's Mr. Bilton," said Link. He began to worry about placing Kadabra under this crazy man's care, but he approached the cottage anyways. He knocked on the door and waited a minute. He heard another scream and almost jumped back from the door anticipating another freak out by Mr. Bilton, but instead, a humanoid Pokémon answered the door. This one was yellow and had black stripes all over it. It also had two antennae and a tail. Link had no clue what this one was. The Pokémon motioned for the Link and the two Pokémon to come in and they did.

The second they walked into the house and the Pokémon shut the door, another scream rang out. Mr. Bilton ran straight through the living room which they had entered through screaming his head off followed by a red Pokémon that looked similar to the Pokémon that had answered the door, but had a flame at the end of its tail and an orange, yellow and red color scheme. It stopped in its tracks at the sight of the guests. Mr. Bilton peeked his head through the door that he had run through at the other side of the living room.

"Oh, it appears we have guests you two!" he said with glee, "Are you from the village on the eastern island?"

"Yes, I am," said Link, "My name is Link and…"

"Oh it's a pleasure to meet you young lad," said Mr. Bilton, "I am Thaddeus Bilton and these are my friends Magmus and Boltus!" The two Pokémon raised their hands in greeting.

"Ah, I see you have Pokémon as well," said Mr. Bilton, "A Kadabra and… oh my goodness!" Mr. Bilton rushed forwards and grabbed Eevee off of Link's shoulder before he could react.

"An Eevee!" he cried, "Oh goodness me, I've been after one of these all of my life! Which would you like, Magmus or Boltus?" Magmus shot a fireball at Mr. Bilton again and Mr. Bilton dropped Eevee on the floor and ran. Eevee ran back over to Link and hid behind him in fear. Mr. Bilton tripped on the rug upon his return to the room a few seconds later.

"So I guess you still don't want to get away from me huh?" he asked Magmus with a dazed smile on his face. He got up and shook his head to get the stars out of his face.

"Sorry Mr. Bilton sir," said Link, "Eevee is my friend. I can just go giving it away to someone." Eevee nodded its head in agreement. "And besides, I came here because I figured you would know something about Pokémon medicine. You see…" Link told what had happened that morning on the eastern side of the island. Mr. Bilton seemed to regain his composure just long enough to be interested in the story. He even took the subject seriously.

"Oh dear," he said, "I was afraid that this was coming."

"What?" Link asked.

"This has been recorded in prophecy for thousands of years," said Mr. Bilton, "The shadow Pokémon uprising."

"Shadow Pokémon?" Link asked.

"They are Pokémon whose hearts have been closed off to the world," said Mr. Bilton, "I fear that somebody is closing them and using them against the world."

"So now what do we do?" Link asked.

"First things first, yes I do know a thing or two about Pokémon medicine," said Mr. Bilton, "Just come with me." He ushered Link into the next room and began again talking about random things, even giving the names of the species that Magmus and Boltus were; Magmar and Electabuzz respectively. Then he had Kadabra sit down on a table while he went over to one of the cabinets and pulled out a jar with a light blue powder inside of it. He pulled a cup out of the cabinet and filled it with water from a pitcher, then popped the lid off of the jar and poured some of the powder inside. He walked back over to Kadabra and gave it the drink. Kadabra drank it down and winced a bit.

"It's a little bitter, I know," said Mr. Bilton. Kadabra's burns seemed to disappear and it stood up from the table as though back at full health.

"Excellent! Rawst Berry mix always seems to work on burns!" Mr. Bilton exclaimed, "Now, would you care to tell me what kind of Pokémon attacked the island earlier this morning?" Link described the Pokémon and after he was done, Mr. Bilton stared at him blankly.

"I've never heard about a Pokémon like that," he said, "Oh, wait!" He quickly dashed out of the room and a few minutes later he returned with two books.

"Here," he said, shoving one of them into Link's arms. Its title was Pokémon Nicknames.

"I wrote most of these books based on my studies," said Mr. Bilton as he looked through the book he had kept with him, "You may want to use that one to name your Pokémon if you'd like. I've found that Pokémon with nicknames tend to be closer to their owners." Link was confused at first but he found the nicknaming thing quite interesting. He settled on the name Verdant for Eevee because he had met it in the forest, but he couldn't decide what to name Kadabra. After all, it wasn't really his Pokémon in the first place.

"Aha!" Mr. Bilton cried, "Here it is!" Link quickly rushed over to Mr. Bilton, who was pointing at a picture in the book.

"Does that match your description or what?" Mr. Bilton cried. Link had to admit, the silhouette that Mr. Bilton was pointing to was pretty close looking to the shady Pokémon he had seen earlier.

"It hasn't been named yet because not enough is known about it," Mr. Bilton explained, "But now that one has shown itself…"

"As a monster that destroys islands," Link interrupted. Mr. Bilton's smile faded.

"You're correct unfortunately," he said, "We need to find it and capture it so that we may contain it somehow."

"Isn't it a shadow Pokémon though?" Link asked, "How do we deal with something like that?"

"Well…" Mr. Bilton was interrupted by a scream from outside. It was extremely high pitched and loud. Link quickly picked up Verdant from the ground and ran out of the hut to see that the enormous bird Pokémon had returned, and this time, it had a young girl in its talons.


	3. Never Rescue a Spoiled Brat

Chapter 3: Never Rescue a Spoiled Brat

"There's a girl in its talons!" Link yelled into the house.

"What's that?" Mr. Bilton said as he rushed outside, Magmus and Boltus at his sides. He gasped.

"Oh goodness!" he cried, "We have to get her down!"

"Verdant, use Shadow Ball!" Link yelled. The little Eevee jumped out of his arms and fired a ball of shadowy energy up at the large Pokémon. It didn't even reach halfway into the sky before it fell to the ground.

"Darn it all!" Link yelled. Kadabra came out of the house to see what was going on, while Mr. Bilton had Magmus and Boltus charge their attacks. The Pokémon received a small shock from the attacks but kept circling in the air.

"What is it doing?" asked Link.

"I don't know," said Mr. Bilton, "Maybe it's confused." Neither of them noticed that Kadabra was using Psychic. Then they saw the bird's talons slowly open up while it looked down in surprise. The girl fell out of the talons and dropped screaming to the ground. Just as she got to ten feet above the ground, Kadabra used Psychic again and she stopped in midair, being lowered to the ground slowly by the psychic attack. The bird flew off to the west again, just like earlier in the morning.

"What was that all about?" asked Link.

"Maybe Kadabra helped it remember what it was doing by accident," said Mr. Bilton, "It was using Psychic after all."

"I honestly think that Kadabra is smarter than you Mr. Bilton," said Link, "It probably could have helped itself." They were so immersed in their conversation they didn't even notice that the girl was standing in front of them.

"Excuse me!" she yelled. Both guys straightened up. The girl was glaring at them. She had blonde hair and blue eyes just like Link. Her hair went all the way down to her waist. There was a tiara upon her head. She wore a regal pink dress with the mark of the Triforce on it.

"You two are completely useless!" she yelled, "If I had to say it, I honestly think that Kadabra is smarter than both of you!"

"Well at least we tried!" Link yelled back at her, "Who do you think you are anyways?"

"Well FYI dork, I happen to be Princess Zelda, the next ruler in line to the throne of Hyrule," she said, folding her arms crossly.

"Ha!" Link huffed. He turned to Mr. Bilton, who was staring wide eyed at her with shock.

"Listen to this girl rant," said Link, "She thinks she's…" He turned to her looking as surprised as Mr. Bilton.

"You're the princess of Hyrule?" he said in shock.

"What did I just say?" asked Zelda, "Yes, as a matter of fact, I am the princess of Hyrule." Both Link and Mr. Bilton fell to the ground in humiliating bows.

"There's no need to do that," said Zelda as she looked at the two of them as though they were total idiots, "I'm nice enough to let you shelter me for a while until you find a way to get me back to the mainland to the north."

"Wait, we never agreed to this!" Link argued, "I don't even know how to build a boat to get off this island!"

"Well, you get no sympathy from me," said Zelda, still looking cross, "Maybe this Kadabra of yours can teleport me out of here." Kadabra looked surprised.

"Wait, wait, wait," said Link, "Kadabra isn't even mine or his!" He gestured to Mr. Bilton who was still staring at the princess in amazement.

"Then what's it doing with you?" asked Zelda, "I'll gladly take it off of your hands." Kadabra looked relieved.

"Wait…" Link started.

"Is that all you can say?" asked Zelda, "Where I live, I get everything I want immediately. I don't know the meaning of the word wait."

"Well guess what?" said Link, starting to get cross himself, "It means 'to remain until something occurs.' You'd better add it to your dictionary real soon because…" Before he could finish, Mr. Bilton screamed. Everyone turned to look at him quickly and found that he was running towards the water again. Magmus must have torched him again. Zelda made a weird face. Link just smacked himself in the forehead.

"Don't mind him," said Link, "He's weird…" Zelda wasn't listening anymore. She was busy talking to Kadabra.

"Yes, I would gladly take you under my care," said Zelda, "You could be my bodyguard!" Kadabra bowed respectfully and Zelda placed a hand on his forehead. Link and Verdant watched in amazement as both of them began glowing. Then the glowing stopped.

"There, that's all done," said Zelda.

"What was that?" asked Link.

"It's a ritual of ownership we use back on the mainland," said Zelda turning to him and smiling for the first time, "It can be performed by anyone of the Hylian race. We use it to signify whose Pokémon are whose. But I felt something during the ritual. You belonged to someone else before didn't you?" Kadabra didn't answer. He seemed to be struggling. Then he fell to the ground and began glowing with a dazzling blue light.

"Ah, so you did!" Zelda exclaimed. Everyone watched speechlessly, including Mr. Bilton who had just returned from the ocean soaking wet. Then just as before, the light stopped and in Kadabra's place stood a new Pokémon. It looked like Kadabra, but it was taller and it now held two spoons. Its yellow moustache had grown longer as well.

"This is what's called evolution," said Zelda, "When a Pokémon changes into another, stronger one."

"Oh my goodness! What an amazing process!" Mr. Bilton cried suddenly, "I'll have to write a book about that one!" Link shot Mr. Bilton a look and he shut up.

"By the way, who did this Alakazam belong to before I took ownership?" she asked.

"It belonged to the village elder on the other side of the island," said Link, "He's dead now though…"

"I saw," said Zelda, "That bird has been destroying islands all over the Great Sea. And for some reason, it kidnapped me."

"Well, you are the princess of Hyrule," said Link, "Maybe whoever owns it…"

"No, it can't be so," said Mr. Bilton sternly, "No one can capture a Shadow Pokémon. They are too rough."

"What did you just call it?" Zelda asked suddenly.

* * *

The three Hylians and four Pokémon had all sat down for some tea. To Link's surprise, it tasted wonderful, considering that it was made by Mr. Bilton.

"Mr. Bilton, this is amazing!" said Link, "What's in this tea?"

"Pokémon droppings!" Mr. Bilton exclaimed. Link almost spit his tea out. Zelda continued to drink the tea primly.

"It is a common ingredient in tea these days," said Zelda, "As long as it's purified, it is perfectly safe. I'm surprised myself that a commoner could make it this well."

"I have my ways," said Mr. Bilton proudly.

"So anyways," said Link, "Where were we before that bird interrupted us?"

"I don't quite remember," said Mr. Bilton, "It was something about handling Shadow Pokémon…"

"And you said that was impossible," Zelda cut in.

"Yes, I did say that didn't I," said Mr. Bilton.

"Actually, I think we should worry less about Shadow Pokémon and more about getting princess girl here off of the island," said Link, who still had a sore spot for the princess.

"Excuse me," said Zelda, "I can wait so as to learn more about this incident! It's my kingdom after all…"

"I thought you said wait wasn't in your dictionary," said Link mockingly. Zelda almost flew out of her seat and socked him but Mr. Bilton came between the two of them.

"Please children calm down!" he cried, "Let's be peaceful and we'll figure something out." Both twelve year olds sat down reluctantly, still glaring at each other.

"First, we need to know how we're going to go about getting this young lady home," said Mr. Bilton, "Second, once we do that, we need to gather more information on the Shadow Pokémon."

"I say we do them the other way around," said Zelda, "We are still going to need a boat, but I can wait to get home until we've figured out what's going on with that bird."

"It's obviously under an evil influence," said Link, "Otherwise it wouldn't be destroying islands."

"But what if it's just naturally destructive?" asked Zelda in response, "Then what?"

"I think the whole 'evil influence' thing makes a lot more sense," said Mr. Bilton. Link stroked Verdant's fur. He seemed as though he was scared of the events of the long day.

"Let's worry about this tomorrow," said Link, "The sun is setting after all." Zelda folded her arms and gave him a nasty glare.

"You just don't realize how important this matter is do you," she said to him, "That bird could come back and blow up the rest of this island!" Link took her words into consideration and then looked at the Alakazam, which she had given the name Sapiatro. In his mind, he wondered where in heck she had gotten that name from.

"Fine," he said, arms folded now, "We'll discuss it now." Zelda shot him daggers and then turned to Mr. Bilton.

"You were speaking about the impossibility of getting through to a shadow Pokemon?" she asked.

"Oh yes," Mr. Bilton said hastily, "I think that I wrote something down in one of the books I've authored. If I remember correctly…"

"You won't have to remember," said Link, pointing out the book that was sitting on the table. It was the same one that had hosted the image of the terrifying shadow bird that had destroyed half of the island. Link picked it up off the table and read the title out loud.

"Research Regarding the Future Shadow Pokemon Incident," said Link professionally.

"You can read?" asked Zelda in surprise.

"Of course I can read," Link huffed, "Why wouldn't I be able to?" Zelda sat back and mumbled something to herself.

"What was that?" asked Link.

"Nothing," said Zelda, "Read the book already." Link rolled his eyes and got another dirty look from the princess before opening the book to the table of contents and finding the chapter labeled, 'Interactions with the Savage Shadows.'" He looked over at Mr. Bilton.

"You've interacted with them before?" he asked.

"Of course I have," said Mr. Bilton, "Where do you think Magmus and Boltus came from?" The Magmar and Electabuzz seemed to shift uncomfortably in the corner of the room where they were unusually playing chess. Link assumed that Mr. Bilton had taught them to do that, though he didn't understand how it could have possibly worked out.

"So you have found a way to purify them," said Zelda, turning from a short look over at the two Pokemon.

"No," said Mr. Bilton, "I haven't, but I have theory. I believe that close interactions with the shadow Pokemon can cause their hearts to reopen to the world. Magmus and Boltus… their hearts aren't even fully opened yet, which is why they sometimes go crazy on me."

"That's a surprise," Link mumbled under his breath. He had thought that Mr. Bilton had just continued to make them angry at him; or maybe the shadow mode caused the anger to come faster.

"Yet they seem to be fully conscious," said Zelda, "Aren't shadow Pokemon usually cold and cruel?"

"Yes, but that is simply restating my theory," said Mr. Bilton, "As close interactions will open a shadow Pokemon's hearts, it does not simply cure them of the mode entirely. I've written symptoms of it that show that it is still within them. Link?" Link nodded and began reading the page he had turned to. Verdant looked curiously at the pages from his side.

"While shadow Pokemon seem to be overtly savage and overall impossible to interact with and tame, I have found a way to somehow lower their savageness and ferocity. Close interactions with them are necessary and those who have these Pokemon under their ownership should be patient with them. Such actions can restore their hearts. However, even as this is so, it is clearly impossible to open a shadow Pokemon's heart entirely, and even in the lowest stage of their shadow form, symptoms remain, such as sudden anger (such anger is worse if one is impatient with the Pokemon earlier on), hyperactivity, difficulty following orders, and lastly, fatigue." Link paused.

"Fatigue?" he asked, "All of the others have nothing to do with that."

"Oh you should have seen the two of them in the earlier stages of their sickness," said Mr. Bilton, gesturing to his two Pokemon, "May I call this a sickness?" Zelda nodded.

"I understand a bit now," said Zelda, "Very well. We must set forth as soon as possible."

"You're not going to take any time to learn more?" asked Link.

"As I said before, wait is not in my dictionary," said Zelda. She gestured for Sapiatro, who had been standing near her the whole time, taking his duties seriously, to follow her out of the room.

"Are you going to be alright with two guests staying here?" asked Link.

"Oh I'll be fine," said Mr. Bilton, "I sleep in my office anyways, and I've got three bedrooms. I don't know why though…"

"For poor kids like us," said Link.

"Exactly! Wait, what does that mean?" he said confusedly.

"Good night," said Link, "Come on Verdant." The Eevee jumped off of the couch as Link stood up and the two of them walked out of the room together. Mr. Bilton watched him go down the hallway looking for one of the bedrooms and chuckled.

"Kids these days," he said to himself. He picked up the book and read the sentence that Link had stopped at. "In any case, there is a way to purify them completely, that I can be sure of, for if one thing is caused, another thing must be able to uncause it, something called the action-reaction effect." He looked over at his two Pokemon, who were confused as they tried to figure out who won, since both kings were alone on the board.

"Stalemate," he said simply, "Bedtime." And he walked out of the room and towards his office.

* * *

**A/N: Well, to be honest, I didn't think I was going to ever finish this chapter! Hooray that I did :D! Anyways, updates are going to come slowly like this, mainly due to work on a larger scale story (The Mage of Thunder) and very, very hard schoolwork. In case you guys were wondering, Sapiatro's name is just a few Latin, Greek, whatever roots smooshed together in one. I'm hoping this story will get farther than five chapters (since a lot of my stories don't) and that you guys will all enjoy it.**


End file.
